Bottle-capping machine



P 5, 1930. R. N.CUNHDALL 1,754,461

BOTTLE IAPPING MACHINE Filed July 25. 1922 5 Sheets-Sheet l 1 :11; en-7oI" H 7 for 7161/5 April 15, 1930. R. N. CUNDALL 1,754,461

BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINE Filed July 25. 1922 5 Sheets-Sheet Inven f-o-r'April 1930- R. N. CUNDALL 1,754,461

BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINE Filed July 25. 1922 v 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 April 15,1930. R. N. CUNDALL BOTTLE CAPPiNG MACHINE Filed July 25. 1922 5Sheets-Sheet 4 April 15, 1930. R. N. CUNDALL 1,754,461

BOTTLE CAPPING MACHINE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed July 25. 1922 33 i' ii i 4V I 3 3 7 I,

k W l g E W 1:

" horizontal Patented Apr. 15, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ROBERTN. CUNDALL, OF BLASDELL, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO CUNDALL, POWELL &

MOSHER, INCL, OF BUFFALO,

NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK BOTTLE-canine MACHINE Applicationfiled July 25,

This invention relates to a machine for applying caps or covers tobottles or jars, such for instance as the glass or porcelain bottles orjars to which metal caps are connected by screw joints or the like andadapted to receive foods, salves, cosmetics or similar goods or productswhich are packed for the trade.

It is the object of this invention to produce a machine for assemblingthe caps and bottles or jars of this character which is efficient andreliable in operation, comparatively simple and durable in constructionand capable of a large output so that the cost of doing this work ismaterially reduced.

In I the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a capping machineembodying my invention. Figure 2 is a top plan View of the same. Figure3 is a horizontal section, taken on line 33, Fig. 1. Figure 4 is afragmentary vertical section of the machine, on an enlarged scale, takenon line 44, Fig. 2. Figure 5 is a fragmentary vertical section taken online 55, Fig. 6. Figure 6 is a section taken on line 66, Fig. 4. Figures7 and 8 are fragmentary vertical sections taken on the correspondinglynumbered lines in Fig. 6. Figure 9 is a horizontal section, on anenlarged scale, taken on line 9-9, Fig. 1. Figure 10 is a fragmentaryperspective view of the upper part of the machine.

Similar characters of reference refer to like parts throughout theseveral views.

Although this machine may be organized for assembling jars or bottlesand caps or covers which may be constructed of various materials andwhich are designed for various uses, the machine shown in the drawings,for example, is more particularly adapted for assembling bottles or jarsof glass or porcelain with caps which are made of sheet metal, each ofthese jars have a cylindrical wall 11. a flat bottom 12 arranged at thelower end of the cylindrical wall and an external screw thread 13arranged at the upper end of the wall, and a cap having a convex crown14 and an internally threaded flange 15 which is adapted to be screwedupon the external thread of the bottle for closing the upper end of thesame and confine the contents of 1922. Serial No. 577,418.

comprises means for supplying bottles or jars which are to be capped, anassembling mechanism for screwing the caps upon the jars or bottles,means for transferring the bottles from the supply means to theassembling mechanism, means for feeding the caps to the assemblingmechanism, and means for discharging the assembled bottles and caps fromthe assembling mechanism.

lhe main frame of this machine may be of any suitable character tosupport the various working parts, but in the form shown in the drawingsthe same comprises a base 16, a hollow column 17 rising from the baseand a bracket 18 secured to this column between its upper and lowerends. Upon this bracket is mounted a horizontal stationary table 19which is provided centrally with a circular opening 20 for a purposewhich will presently appear.

Within the hollow column, is arranged an upright main or master shaft 21which is journaled in suitable bearings therein and rotated by anysuitable mechanism, for instance as shown in the drawings, by means of ahorizontal driving shaft 22 journaled in suitable bearings on the baseand provided with a bevel pinion 23 which meshes with a bevel gear wheel24 on the lower end of the master shaft, and a pulley 25 arranged on thedriving shaft and adapted to receive a power driven belt.

Upon the upper end of the master shaft 21 is arranged an upper head 26and below this upper head the same is provided with an intermediate head27 which heads are of circular form and secured to theshaft so as to becompelled to turn therewith, but held against vertical movement thereon.A thrust bearing 28 is preferably interposed between the hub of theintermediate head and the upper end of the supporting column for thepurpose of sustaining the weight of this shaft and the parts connectedtherewith. Immediately above the bracket 18 is arranged an uprighttubular shaft 29 which is journaled on the periphery of the column andprovided at its upper end with a lower head 30 of substantially circularform and on its lower partwith a rotatable table 31 of disk shaped formarranged within the opening 20 of the stationary table and having a flatupper surface which is flush with the upper surface of the stationarytable, as best shown in Fig. 4. The intermediate and lower heads areconnected by means of a plurality of upright coupling rods 32 arrangedin an annular row around the axis of the master shaft and each securedat its upper end to the marginal part of the intermediate head and thelower head, as best shown in Fig. 1. The upper, intermediate and lowerheads 26, 27, 30, the tubular shaft 29 and the rotatable table 31together form a turret which turns with the main shaft 21 and supportssome of the bodily movable parts of the machine as will be explainedfurther on.

Arranged in an annular row around the axis of the turret and compelledto move bodily in a circular path around the same and capable ofindividual vertical motion are a plurality of upright spindles or shafts33 each of which is journaled near its lower end in a bearing 34 mountedon the periphery of the lower turret head 30 and also journaled near itsupper end in a bearing 35, which is mounted on the periphery of theintermediate turret head 27. These bearings 34, 35 engage with laterallyopening recesses 36, 37 formed in the peripheries of the turret heads30, 27 so as to be capable of horizontal movement into and out of theserecesses for assembling or dismembering themachine. These bearings arealso provided at their upper ends with laterally projecting flanges 38,forming shoulders thereon whereby the same rest upon the upper sides ofthe turret heads 27, 30 and are thereby held against downward movementthereon after being assembled therewith. Rotary motion is imparted tothese spindles by means of gear pinions 39 formed thereon immediatelyabove the lower bearings 34 and meshing with the external teeth of amaster gear wheel 40, which is secured with its hub to the upper part ofthe column 17 so that the same is stationary, the teeth of this mastergear wheel being elongated vertically so that the pinions of thespindles are retained in mesh therewith during the entire verticalmovement of these spindles. Upon rotating the turret carrying thesespindles the latter are carried bodily in a circular path around theaxis of the turret and at the same time each of the spindles is turnedby engagement of its pinion with the teeth of the master gear wheel. Inaddition to sliding in its bearings each of these spindles is guided inits vertical movement upon the turret by a pair of upright guide rods41, 41, which are arranged on opposite sides of each spindle and slideat their upper ends in openings formed in the peripheral part of theupper turret head 26 and at their lower ends in openings formed in thelower head of the turret, and a cross piece or yoke 42 connecting eachpair of guide rods between the turret heads 27 30, and providedcentrally with an outwardly or laterally opening recess 43 whichreceives the respective spindle immediately above its gear pinion andengages its upper and lower sides with upper and lower shifting collarsor shoulders 45 formed on the adjacent part of the spindle, as bestshown in Figs. 1. 4 and 10.

Each of the spindles is yieldingly held in its lowered position by meansof a pair of lowering springs 46, 46 which surround the upper parts ofthese guide rods and each of which bears at its upper end against theunderside of the upper turret head 26 while its lower end bears againsta collar 47 secured to the respective rod which collar is also adaptedto bear against the upper side of the intermediate turret head 27 andthereby serve in co-operation with the collar on the companion guide rodto limit the downward motion of these rods and the spindle associatedtherewith.

The upward motion of the spindles and the parts associated therewith isproduced by means of a stationary .cam 48 mounted on the master gearwheel and having a camshaped upper surface which engages with theunderside of the lifting rollers 49 pivoted on the inner sides of thecross pieces or yokes 42, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 4, 9 and 10. Thislifting cam is preferably constructed in the form of a ring which issecured upon the web of the master gear wheel and held thereon by meansof a clamping ring 50 which has a wedging engagement with this cam bymeans of co-operating inclined surfaces 51 formed on these parts bymeans of screws 52 which connect this clamping ring with the master gearwheel, as best shown in Figs. 4 and 9.

At its lower end each of the spindles is provided with a gripping chuckor holder whereby the same grasps the cap or cover which is to beapplied to one of the bottles. In its preferred form each of theseholders, as best shown in Figs. 1, 4, 5, 6, 8 and 10, comprises acylindrical head 53 which is preferably connected by means of a screwjoint with the lower end of one of the spindles and provided with aconcave face 54 on its underside and a plurality of upright springfingers or jaws arranged in an annular row aroun the head of the chuckand each preferably composed of oneor more leaf springs whic 1 aresecured at their upper ends to the periphery of the chuck head and thelower end of at least one of the springs projects downwardly below theconcave face of the chuck head. As shown in the drawings, each of thesegripping fingers or jaws is composed of an inner leaf-shaped springwhich has its lower part projecting below the chuck head and terminatingin an outwardly bent guide lip 56 and an outer leaf-shaped spring 57which bears against the outer side of the inner spring and terminates atits lower end above the lower end of the respective chuck head. In thismanner a chuck is produced which upon being lowered over a bottle cap orcover will cause these fingers to slide downwardly along the peripheryof the cap so as to embrace the same and obtain a frictional holdthereon by reason of the spring jaws of the chuck being spread by theperiphery of the cap which is of sufficiently large diameter for thispurpose. The jaws are guided downwardly over the bottle cap by theoutwardly turning lips on the lower ends of the same and the downwardmovement of the chuck relative to the cap is limited by engagement ofthe concave underside of the chuck head with the convex crown of thecap.

The caps may be presented to these gripping chucks in any suitablemanner, but preferably by means which are constructed as follows:

58 represents a horizontally rotatable feeding disk which has one partof its peripheral portion arranged below the circular path of travel ofthe gripping chucks as they move bodily with the turret around the axisof the latter. This cap feeding disk is provided on its upper side witha plurality of feeding chucks 59 of circular form which are arranged inan annular row about the axis of this disk and over which an attendantplaces the screw caps which are to be applied to the necks of thebottles. The relative arrangement of the axis of the turret and thefeeding disk is such that when a gripping chuck on the turret and afeeding chuck on the feeding disk are on a horizontal line extendingthrough the axes of the turret and the feeding disk the axes of therespective cap gripping chuck and cap feeding chuck will be verticallyin line, as shown in Fig. 2 and at the left hand side of Fig. 4.

Although the number of chucks may be varied to suit different conditionsand characters of caps and bottles which are operated upon, it ispreferable to employ four gripping chucks and associated parts, whichare arranged equi-distant in a circular row on the turret, and acorresponding number of cap feeding chucks on the feeding disk and sotiming the movements of the turret of the feeding that at the end ofeach quarter turn of the turret and feeding disk, one of the grippingchucks will be vertically in line momentarily with one of the cap feedinchucks, as the circular path of travel of t 1e gripping chuck and thefeeding chuck intersect each other. For this purpose the distance fromthe axis of the turret to the axis of each chuck spindle and thedistance from the axis of the feeding disk to each of the feeding chucksis the same, and the turret and feeding disk are rotated at the samespeed by means of intermeshing gear wheels 60, 80 of the same diameterwhich are secured respectively to the lower part of the hollow shaft 29,and an upright shaft 61 which latter carries the feeding disk at itsupper end and is journaled at its lower end in a bearing 62 on thebracket 18, as best shown in Figs. 1, 3 and 4.

The face of the cam 48 has two low parts and two high parts whichalternate circumferentially and engage successively with the roller 49of each yoke 42 whereby each of the cap gripping chucks is free to belowered under the action of the respective lowering spring 46 when thischuck is vertically in line with one of the cap feeding chucks and therespective roller 49 engages one of the low parts of the cam face 48,then this gripping chuck is raised by engagement of the next followinghigh part of the cam 48, then this gripping chuck is again permitted todescend by the next following low part of the cam 48 and place the capheld thereby on the respective container, and then the gripping chuck isagain raised by the next following high part of the cam 48 fordisengaging the gripping chuck from the cap which has been applied to acontainer, preparatory to beginning another cycle of operations.

The bottles which are to be capped are fed successively to the grippingchucks in a position to permit these chucks to screw the caps on thethreaded necks of the bottles by means of a star shaped feeding wheel 63which is arranged above the stationary table 19 and preferably has itsaxis arranged on a radial line of the turret which is at right angles tothe radial line extending from the turret to the axis of the cap feedingdisk. The bottles to be capped rest with their lower ends or hottoms onthe upper side of the table 19 and are moved forwardly by means of aplurality of hook-shaped jaws 64 formed of the bottle feeding wheel.being constructed to form semi-circular concave seat 65 which embracesthe rear half of the bottle adjacent to the lower end thereof and tomove this bottle in a circular path from one part of the periphery ofthe bottle feeding wheel to another part thereof where the axis of eachof these seats is in line with the path of travel of the grippingchucks. As each seat of the bottle feeding disk or wheel is arranged ona line extending through the axes of the turret and the bottle feedingdisk, the axis of the respective seat is vertically in line with one ofthe gripping chucks and at this time the respective gripping chuck isloweredeby the action of th respective lowering spring 46 so as toengage the respective cap with the upper end of the adjacent bottle,this being permitted by the formation of the cam 48. As the grippingeachof said jaws a substantially on the periphery chucks move bodily aroundthe axis of the turret, each of these chucks also rotates continuouslyabout its own axis so that when one of these chucks moves downwardly andplaces a cap against the upper end of a bottle which is presentedthereto by the bottle feeding wheel, this cap is engaged with the bottleby a rotary action whereby the cap is screwed on the bottle. Thisscrewing action commences the instant the cap is engaged with the bottleand causes these members to be coupled and move in the circular pathwith the turret and away from the circular path of the bottle feedingwheel. This rotary motion of the ca under the action of its chuckcontinues after the bottle has been taken away from the bottle feedingwheel until the cap has been tightly screwed upon the bottle after whichthe respective chuck slips idly around the cap without producing anyfurther action thereon. In the present machine the tightening of the capon the bottle is effected during about one quarter turn of the turret,but this timing may be varied to suit different Conditions.

To insure proper transfer of the bottles from the delivery side of thefeeding wheel to the rotary table 31 and into line with a cap grippingchuck a delivery guard wall 66 is arranged along the delivery part ofthe periphery of the feeding wheel and secured to the stationary tableadjacent to the receiving part of the rotary table.

In order to permit the gripping chucks to carrying the bottles out ofthe jaws of the bottle feeding wheel without interference from thelatter the bottle feeding wheel is turned at a slower rate than that ofthe turret and the number of jaws on the feeding wheel is greater thanthe number of gripping chucks on the turret so as to supply a suflicient number of bottles to keep pace with the caps which are presentedby the turret.

In the preferred construction, the bottle feeding wheel is provided witheight bottle carrying jaws or pockets which are spaced equi-distancecircumferentially and this wheel is turned at one-half the speed of theturrent by a two to one gearing interposed between the turret and thebottle feeding wheel. This reducing gear, in its preferred form,consists of a gear pinion 67 secured to the lower part of the hollowturret shaft 29 and meshing with a gear wheel 69 twice the diameter ofthis pinion secured to the lower end of a shaft 68 which carries thebottle feeding wheel at its upper end while its lower end is journaledin a bearing 70 on an adjacent part of the bracket 18. The bottles maybefed to the feeding wheel in any suitable manner,

the means for this purpose shown in the drawings being constructed as 1follows 71 represents the operative stretch of a conveyor belt whichmoves along one edge of the table 19 and is operated by any suitablemeans. Arranged above the feeding portion of this conveyer belt is achannel com osed of inner and outer walls 72, 73 having ongitudinalreceiving portions arranged lengthwise of the conveyer belt and securedin place by means of arms 75 which are attached to a bar 7 4 extendinglaterally from the table 19 while the delivery parts of these channelwalls extend laterally on a curve and over the adjacent part of thetable 19 to the receiving part of the periphery of the bottle feedingwheel which is away from the place where the bottles are delivered tothe gripping chucks. The bottles are moved forwardly through thisfeeding channel by frictional en gagement of the conveyer belt with theundersides of the bottles and as each bottle successively reaches thefront end of the row it is pushed into the path of one of the jaws ofthe bottle feeding wheel so that the latter obtains control of thebottle and moves the same to the place where it receives a cap from agripping chuck. The gearing between the bottle feeding wheel and theturret is such that the opposing parts of the rotary table 31 and thebottle feeding wheel move in the same direction. In order to insureengagement of each bottle with a jaw of the bottle feeding wheel a guardarm 76 of curved form is arranged circumferentially along the receivingpart of the bottle feeding wheel. This arm is preferably mountedyieldingly so that if a bottle is not fed to the feeding wheel at theproper time and becomes caught between this wheel and the guard arm, thelatter will yield and thus avoid breaking the bottle. For this purposethe rear end of the guard arm 76 is pivoted adjacent to the inner wallof the bottle feeding channel by means of an upright hinge 77 so thatthis guard arm can swing horizontally and the same is drawn inwardlytoward the feeding wheel by means of a spring 78 connecting the guardarm with a stationary bracket 79 mounted on the table 19. as best shownin Figs. 1, 2 and 10.

Means are provided for holding each bottle against turning about its ownaxis and also retaining the same in axial alinement with the respectivecap gripping chuck while this hottle is being carried bodily around withthe turret. The preferred organization of these clamping means shown inthe drawings is as follows:

81 represents a plurality of relatively stationary clamping jaws securedto the upper side of the rotary table and each having a concave face 82which engages with the rear or trailing side of a bottle adjacent to thelower end thereof. 83 represents a plurality of movable clamping jawseach having a concave face 84 which is movable toward and from theadvance side of a bottle adjacent to the lower end thereof. Each ofthese movable clamping'jaws is mounted on the lower end of an uprighthollow rock shaft or sleeve Ill] 85 which is pivotally mounted upon anupright rock shaft 86 which is journaled in hearings on the lower headand table of the turret. A rocking movement is imparted to the rockshaft 86 by means of a rock arm 87 secured to the upper end thereofabove the lower turret head and having a roller 88 at its free end whichengages with a cam consisting of an inner section 89 secured to thehollow column above the lower turret head and an outer section 90 whichis secured to the underside of the stationary master gear wheel, as bestshown in Figs. 4, 6 and 7. A yielding rocking movement is transmittedfrom the inner rock shaft 86 to the outer rock shaft 85 by means of ayielding arm 91 secured to the upper part of the outer rock shaft 85 andpreferably composed of a plurality of leaf-springs, and a rigid rock arm92 secured to the inner rock shaft 86 above the outer rock shaft andprovided at its outer or free end with two downwardly projecting lugs 93on which are mounted screws 94, 95 adapted to engage opposite sides ofthe free end of the spring arm 91, as best shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 10.During the rotary movement of the feeding wheel, each of its jaws movesa bottle over the stationary table 19 and the rotary table 31 and invfront of one of the relatively fixed clamping jaws 81. Immediatelythereafter the companion movable jaw 83 is moved toward the oppositeside of the bottle and holds the same against turning upon its own axiswhile rotating bodily with the turret, thereby holding the bottlestationary relatively to the cap gripping chuck. The latter is rotatedat this time in frictional engagement with the screw cap and turning thesame so that its screw thread runs on to the screw thread of therespective bottle and causes these parts to be assembled. This operationof screwing a cap on a bottle occurs during about one-quarter of themovement of the turret after the bottle and cap have been first broughttogether and thereafter the movable clamping jaw is disengaged from thebottle so as to permit the same to be carried away from the rotarytable. The faces of the cam sections 89, 90 have low faces which uponengaging each roller 88 operate to close each movable jaw for gripping abottle when the latter is presented to the respective gripping chuck andhigh faces which upon engaging each roller 88 operate to open thisclamping jaw for releasing the bottle when the cap has been appliedthereto. By interposing a yielding member in the train of transmittingmeans between each movable clamping jaw and the cam sections 89, 90, itpermits the movable clamping jaw to bear yieldingly against a bottle andthereby not only avoid breaking the same, but also allowing for areasonable variation in the diameter of the bottle or defeet in the sameand also avoiding the necessity of constructing the cam section andassociated parts with absolute nicety and still secure a practicalworking operation of the means for holding the bottle against turning.

After the bottle with a cap applied thereto, has been released by therespective clamping jaw, the same is moved from the rotary table 31 tothe stationary table 19 and then conducted to the delivery part of theconveyer belt 71 which latter carries the same away to the desiredplace. The preferred means for accomplishing this delivery of thebottles from the rotary table to the conveyer belt which are shown inthe drawings comprise a curved delivery channel 99 which is formedbetween inner and outer guide walls or rails 96, 97 which are secured tothe adjacent part of the stationary table, said outer wall beingprovided at its inner end with a curved horn or ejector 98 whichprojects over the rotary table and across the path of the bottles asthey are moved forwardly by the rotary table whereby the bottles uponengaging with this horn or ejector will be deflected from the rotarytable and directed into the delivery guide channel. As the bottles aresuccessively discharged from the rotary table into the delivery channel99 each bottle is advanced in this channel by being pushed by the nextfollowing bottle so that the bottles in this delivery channel, as theyreach the outlet end of the same are successively delivered uponthe,conveyer belt and carried away to the place intended to receive thesame.

Briefly described, the main operations of this machine are as follows:

One operator places the bottles to be capped in a longitudinal row uponthe conveyer belt 71 so that the latter moves the same forwardly throughthe feed channel from the outlet end of which these bottles are pickedup one at a time by the jaws of the feed wheel 63 and presentedsuccessively to the cap applying chucks. At the same time anotheroperator places previously formed caps successively on the cap feedingchucks which latter present these caps successively to the cap grippingchucks of the turret. As each cap feeding chuck of the feeding diskcomes vertically in line with one of the gripping chucks on the turret,the respective gripping chuck is lowered and raised quickly whereby thisgripping chuck grasps the cap on the respective feeding chuck and liftsthis cap therefrom. The gripping chuck then advances one quarter turnwhich brings the same over a bottle which has just been presented by thefeeding wheel and then the grip ping chuck is lowered and engages thecap therein-with the respective bottle and by reason of the continuousrotary motion about its own axis, screw the cap on the bottle while thecap and bottle move forwardly together with the rotary turret, so thatthe bottle is carried away from the feeding wheel. While the cap isbeing thus screwed on to the bottle the latter is held against turningby the clamping jaws 81 and 83 engaging the rear and front sides of thesame. The turret makes about a quarter turn as the operation of screwingthe cap upon the bottle is effected and then the movable clamping jaw isdisengaged from the bottle so that immediately thereafter the bottletogether with the cap thereon may be discharged by the delivery meansfrom the rotary table to the delivery portion of the conveyer belt.

The relative timing of the several main groups of mechanisms is suchthat the bottle transferring means have a greater propelling speed thanthe bottle supplying means, and the bottle and cap assembling means havea greater propelling speed than the transferring means, whereby thespeed of travel of the bottles is gradually accelerated from the timethey enter the machine until they receive the caps and thus avoidspilling the contents of the bottles when filled to the brim.

The feeding chucks 59 are sufficiently high that when the caps rest withtheir crowns on the tops of these chucks that the lower edges of theflanges of the caps do not engage the top of the feeding disk 58 and aretherefore not supported thereon, as shown in Fig. 4. It follows fromthis that the caps are subsequently gripped by a comparatively heavypressure on the crown between the top of the feeding chucks and theheads of the gripping chucks while the flanges of the caps are onlyengaged lightly by the spring jaws of the gripping chucks. This permitsof grasping the caps and presenting the same properly to the bottlesregardless of any uneveness on the lower edges of the flanges of thecaps which is produced during manufacture of the same and renders itpossible to apply the caps to the bottles with certainty and accuracy.Furthermore this manner of engaging the caps permits of making the sameof comparatively thin metal without liability of distorting or marringthe same.

By varying the tension of the spring jaws on the gripping chucks, anydegree of tightness of the caps on the bottles may be secured to suitthe requirements of different products.

Although the machine hereinbefore described is designed moreparticularly for attaching caps to bottles by means of a screw jointbetween the same, it is to be understood that the same is equally usefulfor connecting bottles and caps having similar or other forms ofinterlocking means, and is also applicable to containers in which thebottles and caps are merely connected by friction.

It will thus be apparent that the operation of the machine is automaticwith the exception of the replenishing the bottles and caps which may besupplied in any suitable manner either automatically or manually.

As a whole this machine is comparatively simple in constructionconsidering the character of work which it performs, and it is durableand reliable in operation and requires but little power for running thesame. F urthermore, the same is compact in construction and the same isnot liable to become clogged or break any of the bottles which areoperated upon, thereby insuring a large output and enabling theoperation of capping the bottles to be effected expeditiously andeconomically.

I claim as my invention:

1. A machine for applying a cap to a bottle comprising a continuouslyrotatable cap feeder having a cap holder, a continuously rotatablebottle feeder having a jaw adapted to carry a bottle, a continuouslyrotatable turret moving past said cap and bottle feeders, a cap grippingchuck mounted on said turret and movable laterally by the same from saidcap feeder to said bottle feeder, and means for moving said grippingchuck toward and from said cap feeder, and toward and from said bottlefeeder.

2. A machine for applying a cap to a bottle comprising a rotatable capfeeder having a cap holder, a rotatable bottle feeder having a jawadapted to carry a bottle, a rotatable turret moving past said cap andbottle feeders, a cap gripping chuck mounted on said turret and movedlaterally by the same from said cap feeder to said bottle feeder, meansfor moving said gripping chuck toward and from said cap feeder, andtoward and from said bottle feeder, and means for rotating said grippingchuck on said turret. I

3. A machine for applying a cap to a bottle, comprising a rotatable capfeeder having a cap holder, a rotatable bottle feeder having a jawadapted to carry a bottle, a rotatable turret moving past said cap andbottle feeders, a cap gripping chuck mounted on said turret and movedlaterally by the same from said cap feeder to said bottle feeder, meansfor moving said gripping chuck toward and from said cap feeder, andtoward and from said bottle feeder, means for rotating said grippingchuck, and clamping means for holding said bottle while said grippingchuck is applying the cap thereto.

4. A machine for applying a cap to a bottle comprising a rotatable capfeeder having a cap holder, a rotatable bottle feeder having a jawadapted to carry a bottle, a rotatable turret movable past said cap andbottle feeders, a cap gripping chuck mounted on said turret and movablelaterally by the same from said cap feeder to said bottle feeder, meansfor moving said gripping chuck toward and from said cap feeder, andtoward and from said bottle feeder, means for rotating said grip ingchuck, and a clamping device movable bodily with said turret and adaptedto hold said bottle while said gripping chuck is applying cap theretoand to release the same while the gripping chuck is disengaged from saidbottle.

5. A machine for applying caps to bottles comprising a rotary capfeeding disk provided with an annular row of cap holders, a bottlefeeding wheel provided with a plurality of bottle carrying jaws, a capgripping chuck, a turret which carries said cap gripping chuck and whichtraverses said cap and bottle feeders so as to bring the gripping chucksuccessively in line with a cap holder and a bottle carrying jaw, aspindle journaled on said turret and carrying said gripping chuck, meansfor turning said spindle comprising a pinion arranged on said spindle,and a stationary gear wheel which meshes with said pinion, and means formoving said spindle lengthwise of its axis comprising a pair of guiderods sliding lengthwise on said turret parallel with said spindle, across piece connected with said guide rods and also connected with saidspindle so that the latter can turn relatively to the cross piece but iscompelled to move lengthwise therewith. springs interposed between saidturret and shoulders on said guide rods for lowering the spindle andassociated parts. and a stationary cam which actuates said cross piecefor lifting said spindle and associated parts.

6. A machine for applying caps to bottles comprising a rotary capfeeding disk provided with an annular row of cap holders, a bottlefeeding wheel provided with a plurality of bottle carrying jaws, a capgripping chuck, a turret which carries said cap gripping chuck and whichtraverses said cap and bottle feeders so as to bring the gripping chucksuccessively in line with a cap holder and a bottle carrying jaw, andgearing connecting said turret and bottle feeding wheel for turning theformer faster than the latter.

7. A machine for applying caps to bottles comprising a rotary capfeeding disk provided with an annular row of cap holders. a bottlefeeding wheel provided with a plurality of bottle carrying jaws, a capgripping chuck. a turret which carries said cap gripping chuck and whichtraverses said cap and bottle feeders so as to bring the gripping chucksuccessively in line with a cap holder and a bottle carrying jaw, andgearing connecting said turret and cap feeding disk for turning the samein unison, and gearing connecting the turret and bottle feeding wheelfor turning the former faster than the latter.

8. Ainachine for applying caps to bottles comprising a hollow column, anupright shaft journaled in said column, a turret having a head securedto said shaft above the column, a 'hollow shaft turning on said columnand having a head connected with the head on the shaft, a rotary tablearranged on the lower part of said hollow shaft and adapted to supporton their undersides the bottles to be capped, cap gripping chucksmounted on cam, and an outer rock shaft having an upper rock armengaging said cam and a lower rock arm engaging said spring arm.

ROBERT N. CUNDALL.

